Citizen Archivist Missions
Ready to start tagging and transcribing? We've curated these topical missions to help you jump in and contribute! Click on a topic that interests you, and it will bring you right to those historical records in our Catalog. Tagging and transcribing makes these records more accessible to everyone. New missions are added and updated regularly, so check back often to see what’s new.
New to the National Archives' Citizen Archivist program? Learn how to register and get started and view the video How to Transcribe in the National Archives Catalog and other how-to videos on the Resources page if you need instructions.
Looking for a previous mission? Visit Mission History
ATTENTION:
- Users need to log in and log out of their Catalog accounts each day so that if our developers make any code changes to the Catalog overnight, your account and Citizen Archivist experience will work properly.
Revolutionary War Pension Files Transcription and Tagging Missions
Join the transcription mission! Join the tagging mission!
Questions? Email us at citizenarchivist@nara.gov
Outside the Box Missions
Up for a challenge or something different? We often have records that require special work in order to make them more accessible.
New to the National Archives' Citizen Archivist program? Learn how to register and get started.
Already have an account? Login here.
Chinese Heritage
Help us transcribe and tag records! We need your help transcribing these immigration records and tagging very specific details. Please read the instructions on the mission page carefully and begin contributing.
Featured Court Case
Readers' Subscription, Inc. v. Robert K. Christenberry, Postmaster of New York City
The complaint in this case is for damages incurred by Readers' Subscription, Inc. caused by the Post Office seizing and impounding circulars advertising the unexpurgated edition of Lady Chatterly's Lover by D.H. Lawrence published by Grove Press due to claims that the book was obscene, lewd, and indecent. The transcript of the proceedings before the U.S. Post Office Judicial Officer is filed with this case, in which president of Grove Press Barney Rosset, authors and literary critics Malcolm Cowley and Alfred Kazin, and publisher and president of Readers' Subscription Arthur J. Rosenthal testified.
The court sided with Readers' Subscription, ruling the novel was not obscene under contemporary community standards. This was a major win for literary freedom against censorship and affirming the right to mail challenging literature.
Transcriber Task Force
Seeking expert transcribers! We’ve gathered records that have tricky elements for our expert transcribers. Here's what we'd like you to do:
- Complete difficult transcriptions
- Help decipher words that are marked [illegible]
- Convert notations of [?] [unreadable] or similar to [illegible]. We ask that you do this so that we’re consistent in how we indicate difficult words.
1950 Census Transcription Projects
The 1950 Census is here! We're looking for help transcribing the initial name index for the 1950 Census. While you can transcribe any name or any page within the 1950 Census, we've identified several specific areas where we'd like your help transcribing.